A week or so ago, I was asked by a fellow trainer to help photograph an event at Our Tampines Hub.

The event was put together by the SG100 Foundation, a society with the aim of engaging both the youth and the pioneer generation of Singapore to create a bright future for our beloved country.

Not being too sure about what to focus on, I asked the event organiser, who asked me to focus on the participants and the guest of honour, Mr Baey Yam Keng, as he visited the different stalls manned by organisations and companies which have involved themselves in social contributions and other worthy pursuits.

Once the performances began, people started getting into the swing of things and I was free to photograph on-the-ground activities, which I much prefer over stage activities.

I've posted the better photographs in an album on my Facebook page after spending some time correcting the colours (the lighting was orange).

Apart from once again exercising my over-long-dormant photography skills, I got to speak with some entrepreneurs there. We may be working on some projects together in the near future.

A couple of things I learned while photographing the event

1) Unexpected things almost always happen at events

An individual with (I presume) her family was shouting and demanding to see the organiser when she and her family were asked to give up their seats to a large group of senior residents who were attending the event. In essence, she was saying that the organisers did not put in enough thought into the number of seats provided.

While I find her behaviour ridiculous and self-entitled, I shall bear this in mind in the planning of my next event.

2) All you have to do is ask

Although I prefer to take shots silently, some of my photos were posed and they turned out very well - a result of my asking my subjects for a shot.

Perhaps it is the introvert side of me that overthinks the asking part, I usually assume that asking for a picture is bothersome to the other party (since I don't like to be in photos myself).

Well, it turns out time and again that many people are quite happy to pose for a photograph if asked. Perhaps they, too, think that it would be presumptuous to ask a photographer to take a picture of them and prefer to wait to be asked instead - a little flattery to be asked to be a model, maybe. I'm not too sure but, from this experience, I figure that it's all up to me to make the request.

The worst that could happen is that they say 'No'.

That said, the majority of my pictures were not posed. I still enjoy the 'captured moment' style of photography and I'll continue to improve my pursuit of this style.

Before I end off this post, Happy 2017! To more learning experiences and more sharing!